Ikaruga (GC)

Ikaruga is the real deal. Can you cope?

Did you mod your Dreamcast and import Ikaruga when it came out in Japan last year? No, you didn't. God, you make me sick. You have a chance to redeem your sorry face, though, by playing it now on GameCube. And you totally should. Why? Because Ikaruga is hot, that's why, and you don't need 20 years of experience playing 2D shooters to appreciate it.

It seems simple enough when you look at it: You fly around, shoot stuff, and avoid bullets. Wave upon wave of enemies descend upon you, and you shoot the crap out of them, eventually getting to a huge, tricked-out boss that requires you to think in wicked patterns in order to kill it. It's a standard formula, but Ikaruga flips it enoughand looks damned good while doing soto make it feel like the freshest thing in the world.

Basically, all the enemies in the game are either black or white. Your ship can also swap between these colors. Your shots will do more damage to enemies of the opposite color; enemy bullets of the same color will go right through you. Now, imagine an ocean of bullets in one color. Then, imagine 5,000 more of the opposite color in that same ocean. You're basically going to have to swap colors, like, 10 million times just to stay alive in a storm like that, not to mention strategize like crazy to shoot the right enemies with the right bullets. Can you deal with that type of insanity? Is it in you to cope with such pure gameplay? Or are you just a weak little chump?

There's only one way to answer that question: Play Ikaruga and prove to the world that you can do it, or pass on it and die like a dog in obscurity.